Hazon Ovadiah on Aveilut Discussed by Ynet

In Ynet (Hebrew) Kobi Naḥshoni has a review of sorts of Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef’s third and final volume on the laws of mourning, Ḥazon Ovadiah al Aveilut. I only have the first volume, so I wasn’t able to look up the decisions that Naḥshoni mentions. One of them was the custom of comforting mourners on the Sabbath and Festivals. Rav Ovadiah says that the custom in Jerusalem is that after services in the synagogue, people go to the house of the mourner, read a chapter of Psalms, say kaddish, and al malei raḥamim.

There is a disagreement whether one comforts mourners on shabbat, the earliest source that discusses this is in B Shabbat 12a. For a discussion of the different opinions and customs regarding mourning and comforting mourners on shabbat and festivals see Shmuel Glick, Or ve-Niḥumim, 78-89.

That a popular online news site chose to write about Rav Ovadiah’s book, testifies to his status as a mainstream cultural and religious figure in Israeli society whose appeal goes being his faithful. One only has to look at his Facebook page, yes he has a Facebook page that as of now 7,610 people “like,” to realize how widespread this appeal is.